Sawyer

Sawyer is where Pikelet grows up. It is a fictional town, in the author’s home state of Western Australia.

There is scant description of the town itself, but we get a strong impression of its people and surroundings. At the center of Sawyer life are the sawmill (the main place of work) and the river (where workers go for recreation). It is a rural place but not wild; locals avoid the nearby forest and sea, preferring tame nature which they can cultivate – as epitomized in the core activities of farming, logging, and fishing in the river. The “forest made them as uneasy as the sea” (60). Pikelet characterizes the townsfolk (including his parents) as cautious, incurious, and tied to routine. “Here in Sawyer,” he explains, people “liked to be ordinary. They were uncomfortable with ambition and avoided any kind of unpredictability or risk” (157). Despite his criticisms, and his...